Secret to Making AI Profitable Is Algorithm-Training Startups

In the tiny kingdom of Bhutan, dozens of data experts perfect artificial intelligence models from offices framed by majestic Himalayan peaks. The employees at iMerit aren’t there to train AI in rudimentary tasks like recognizing “brown cat on a windowsill” in an image. Instead, they’re teaching algorithms the anatomy of the human eye or how to detect changes in geospatial maps.

Backed by three Silicon Valley billionaires, iMerit is part of a growing cohort of companies building a more sophisticated, monetizable and reliable version of AI, an industry on track to add nearly $20 trillion to the global economy by ...